Life in the Mediterranean

Hints & Tips
Begin by building a housing community on the eastern part of the play area south of the Mediterranean. This will be your main housing area for the rest of the adventure so make sure that it is large enough to add buildings to later.

Begin to grow carrots in the meadow to the southwest of your housing community. If you find you're not making food fast enough, build a Pier to Iwaeh and importing fish. Placing the Pier on the western-most shore is fine after you clear cut the forest that's over there. Place a Granary near your housing to get fish. The fish will help until your carrot production is in full swing.

Almost immediately upon starting the Adventure, Scylla will show her ugly faces in the water to the right of the straight. She does not come up onto land nor can she cross the straight to menace your Piers on the other side. Even though she is not much of a threat to you, you do need to kill her to advance to the next episode.

You can now build a Hero's Hall for Odysseus, which will bring him to your city. To have the famous Odysseus kill Scylla you'll need:

Atlas feels like this is the perfect time to give you a quest. You need to summon a strong hero -- only Hercules will do -- to widen the Mediterranean Strait. You can now place Hercules' Hall, which you should put in the housing community you were building before Scylla showed up and Atlas gave you orders. Hercules requires:

Those are a lot or requirements to meet, but don't worry: it really is not that bad. Focus on meeting Hercules' requirements first. Atlantis will give you gifts of wheat -don't eat them!! Set a Storehouse to accept wheat, which can then be taken to a Horse Ranch. You will need at least one ranch to supply your Hippodrome with horses. You might consider placing it between your housing community and your carrot farms. A small Hippodrome can be built on the hill top to the south of your housing blocks, to the east of the marble quarries.

Around this same time, other cities will ask for fleece and for food. Importing fish helps with meeting the food requirements. Also, Iwaeh will make your day by giving you a gift of 12 pieces of sculpture, so have two Storehouses ready to accept.

Just remember that Hercules is going to widen the strait, so it probably wouldn't be the best idea to build anything that you mind losing on the land immediately around either side of the strait, but feel free to use the land on the other side of the strait by building a bridge across it.

There is not much room to build in Lixus, and remember you do need 8 elite houses in this episode and maybe a sanctuary or two in later episodes. Don't let sprawl take over. Finding employment for the 1500 people you need for Hercules to come to Lixus can be challenging, but remember you can raise and lower wage rates to change the size of your workforce, and you can build a lot of Carding Sheds. You can export fleece in this episode, which you will need to do if you want to make some money. Atlantis and Mestonia will buy it from you. Remember to give them gifts of fleece occasionally, so that you can request olive oil from Mestonia or wine from Atlantis, as you need it.

Your original housing block should provide you with enough workers to achieve the 1500 people that Hercules requires. At this point you will probably have quite a few unemployed people in the city. This would be a good time to start to build a community for the elite houses. Eight houses and all of the buildings they need to thrive can fit on the western plateau. If you have extra workers, build all of the support buildings the elite houses will need (Maintenance Office, Tax Office, science buildings, etc.), and wait to put the houses in until you have some olive oil. Make sure that you do not place a Wine Vendor's Stall on the Agora. Because there is no armor available in this episode, elite housing won't need wine. That won't, however, prevent the wine vendor from taking some of the precious wine you need for both heroes.

Don't forget a Museum; Hercules will need one in the city if he is to have excellent science access. A University will send a curator to the Museum, and the Museum itself sends curators of its own into the city. Just make sure that a curator goes by Hercules' hall regularly. Your elite houses will not need curator access in this episode so don't worry about them for now. You can always delete the Museum and build it elsewhere in a later episode.

At this point you probably have everything you need to summon Hercules. When he arrives don't forget to dispatch him on Atlas' quest.

With Hercules on his way, you can work on getting Odysseus. If you haven't started to import olive oil from Mestonia, do it now, or request olive oil after giving gifts of fleece. Make sure you do not place an oil vendor in the Agora servicing your common housing: the last thing your city probably needs right now is more workers. Build your elite housing (if you haven't already done so) and import more wine if you need it. Check the Overview tab to see how hygiene is in the city. If is not high enough, consider building another Infirmary, and check to make sure that everyone is getting food from an agora.

When you meet Odysseus' requirements, summon him. After he stops in at his Hall he will battle Scylla and this adventure will be over.

Hints & Tips
At the start this episode, there are three new cities to trade with: Sidon, Carthage, and Tyre. Sidon will buy marble and sell armor, Tyre sells wood that you will need for sanctuary construction, and Carthage will sell bronze. A little while into the episode, Memphis will be discovered. They will sell you wheat and eventually buy fleece. These four important new cities will be enough to give Lixus eight trading partners.

A permanent flood will happen, widening the strait. You were warned not to build there! You can still build a bridge across the strait to reach any building you had built to the north of the strait. You can now place Piers all along the northern or southern shores to accommodate all of your new trading partners.

Depending on how many Carding Sheds you had working in the first episode, you might be able to set aside the 64 skeins of fleece right away. Consider building another Carding Shed or two if you can't meet this goal. High fleece production is great because you will be able to sell even more fleece in this episode.

If you find your city needs workers, consider placing an oil vendor into the Agora serving your common housing and letting that housing upgrade.

You have two choices for meeting the sanctuary goal. You can build a sanctuary to Atlas or one to Poseidon. Atlas' sanctuary is smaller than Poseidon's so that might factor into your choice. Poseidon's Sanctuary will fit in the land to the Southwest of your elite housing plateau, as will Atlas'. Poseidon's Sanctuary will also require 16 loads of Orichalc which you can request from Atlantis or import from them.

Improving your elite housing is not necessary but doing so does have its benefits. You can either import armor from Sidon or you can import bronze from Carthage and make your own. Making armor will employ some of your citizens, so keep that in mind if you have high unemployment. Making your own armor is also cheaper than importing the finished good. Carthage will eventually stop trading with you (you did nothing wrong), but by that point you should have enough armor to supply your elite houses.

If you want to improve your elite housing further, build some Chariot Factories and place a Chariot Vendor in the Agora. Once the houses have evolved you will start raking in the drachmas through tax collection, helping you meet the yearly profit goal. Make sure the tax collector can reach all of your elite houses. Also, remember that to improve the elite houses, they will need access to a curator. Feel free to delete the Museum you placed in episode one and move it to somewhere more beneficial in this episode.

With Carthage not trading, Lixus is back to seven trading partners, but don't worry. Soon Thebes will be discovered, eventually bringing your trading partners back up to eight. Thebes also buys marble, which will help you to meet your profit goal. The rival city of Argos will also be discovered during this episode. Carthage eventually decides that they can trade again but at this point their bronze isn't necessary.

You will get at least one request for wine during this episode so try to keep a little extra on hand.

Most likely you will meet either yearly profit goal or the Sanctuary goal last. When those goals are met you will be ready to advance on to the first colony episode. You will be given a choice between Saqqara and Syracuse. Saqqara has plentiful amounts of wheat, which it will later pay in tribute, while Syracuse has no sources of food at all. It's easier to play Saqqara first.

» Episode 3: Showing the Way (Saqqara colony)

Goals
-Modest Pyramid
-Great Pyramid
-Pyramid of the Pantheon
-Produce 64 Sheaves of wheat in one year
-64 slabs of marble for parent city

Hints & Tips
This episode is set in the colony of Saqqara in Egypt. The only husbandry buildings available are Wheat Farms, so if you want your common housing to evolve you will have to import all other goods.

As with most colonies, build a storage yard early on to accommodate the goods you sent from the parent city. Place your housing between the marble quarry and the coastline. This way your citizens will be close to the marble, the water, and the meadow. To build pyramids you are going to have to import a lot of items, so keep the coastline clear for Piers.

Almost immediately, the Sphinx enters your land, but she is far away from the coastline, the marble and the meadow. The Sphinx will not come down and menace your population unless you build right next to where she is, so you probably would be best off avoiding her oasis. You do not need to kill the Sphinx, but if you feel you need a little more breathing room, summon Atalanta to take care of her. Atalanta requires:

These are serious requirements to meet in your little colony but it is possible to import all of the materials you need, and soon you will be quarrying enough marble to easily have enough for a sanctuary.

Besides Artemis' Menagerie you can build the Pillar of Atlas. If you build a Sanctuary to Atlas he will help your miners quarry marble faster. He will also help in the construction of pyramids. For this reason, Atlas' Sanctuary may be the better choice.

Place some Wheat Farms in the meadow by your housing and wait for people to move in. Once your citizens have food and water and Saqqara has some unemployment, begin to hew marble and grow the extra food you need.

Trading is very important. Thebes and Sidon will both buy marble. The only industry Saqqara has is hewing marble, making sculpture and forging armor. Since no one buys sculpture or armor, selling marble becomes very important to Saqqara's economic health. Tyre will sell your colony wood, which you will need to construct pyramids. Carthage will sell meat, vital if you want Atalanta to come, and bronze if you want to make your own sculpture. Gades will sell fleece, which you will need to upgrade your housing. Atlantis sells orichalc, which is necessary to build pyramids, and Mestonia will trade black marble with you, which you also need for certain pyramids. If you don't want to make your own sculpture you can buy it from Iwaeh.

When your city is up and running, you're pretty much on autopilot. Build a few artisans guilds and build the pyramids in whatever order you choose. Give gifts of marble or fleece to make other cities think more highly of you. A high popularity level is a must if you want other cities to grant your requests for building materials. Other cities will want to give you gifts also. Be ready to accept gifts of fleece, black marble, and orichalc. Your parent city will probably hit you up for some food. Helping them probably won't make a dent in your food supply because of all the wheat you have to produce to meet the episode goal.

Be wary of building on certain stretches of coastline; the yearly flooding of the Nile river keeps the land fertile, but will also destroy farms built too close to the coastline. These most often occur near the bottom of the river on the left bank and around the middle of the right bank.

Hints & Tips
Welcome back to Lixus! Sidon and Tyre become your vassals in this episode and Carthage turns on you. If you built up your elite housing in the second episode, you should have no problem conquering Carthage as soon as they turn. If you did not build up your housing, take some time now and do so.

Building a frigate takes 100 employees to work at the wharves, and a suitable shore location. Try the northern-most shores. You will also probably need to build another small housing community. One of the plateaus is a good place to build this small community. If you haven't already conquered Carthage, do it after you construct the two frigates.

Building the shrine and the Sanctuary to Ares should not present a great problem. You can produce marble in Lixus and you should still have most of the sculpture that Iwaeh gave you in the first episode. With the money you are making from exporting fleece and marble and from collecting taxes, importing wood and black marble for the shrine should not make much of a dent in the city's funds, especially if Atlas is around to help out.

During this episode some of your trading partners may decide to stop trading for a while. At this point in the adventure these disruptions in trade should not matter much to the city. Remember even if trade is shut down, you can still request a good from a city.

Feel free to stay in Lixus and make some money through trade and tax. Set aside the fleece for your new colony when you are ready to proceed.

» Episode 5: Near the Hellenes (Syracuse Colony)

Goals
-Support 2 Frigates
-150 in mansion or better
-64 bars of bronze for parent city

Hints & Tips
There is no food production in the colony of Syracuse, but Saqqara does pay 10 sheaves of wheat per year in tribute (presuming you've already played Saqqara) and much food may be imported.

Build your housing wherever you feel comfortable, just do not build near the bronze deposits. Cerberus decides to leave the Underworld to come and bother your colony. You can summon Hercules by building his Hall and meeting his requirements, and he'll then kill Cerberus, but you do not need to do this to advance to the next episode. There is bronze elsewhere in the area so you can meet your production goal without killing Cerberus.

Build Piers to trade for the goods the colony needs. Don't forget that you can request goods from other cities. Selling sculpture, bronze, and olive oil will really increase your colony's coffers. Save enough coastline to build two frigate wharves when you are ready.

Build a housing community for elite houses. Make sure you are producing enough olive oil to support them. If you evolve the houses all the way to Estate, you will need 8 elite houses to meet your housing goal.

At some point, Mt. Aulip will be discovered and they will try to invade. Depending on where you are militarily and economically, you can either bribe them or fight them. Don't forget that you can also requisition your parent city for defensive aid.
When you are ready, set aside the 64 bars of bronze and move on to the next episode.

» Episode 6: Plague

Goals
-Great Pyramid
-Population of 4000
-Yearly profit of 7500

Hints & Tips
Selling marble and fleece should help you to make the yearly profit goal, although this becomes more difficult as cities begin to feel the effects of the plague. If you seem to have trouble meeting the profit goal, try increasing your tax rate. Finally, you can sell the excess sculpture that Iwaeh gave you in episode 1; Knossos buys sculpture and the Great Pyramid does not need any. Remember that a city can only have 10 active Piers at one time, so delete any Piers you may have had to any city that has withered away (many cities are going to wither).

Finding space for the Great Pyramid and extra housing, if you need it, might be more of a challenge, but you should have enough space scattered around the city. If you don't see space at first, try clearing some trees.

Mt. Aulip will menace your colony too; make sure you have troops to dispatch if you want to protect Syracuse.

Once you meet these three goals, it will be time to say good-bye to Lixus?